Patricia Kingori

Patricia Kingori
Kingori speaks at the Research on Research Institute in 2019
Born	Kenya
Alma mater	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Royal Holloway, University of London
Scientific career
Institutions	University of Oxford
Thesis	"The good, the bad and the ethical" : a sociological examination of Kenyan fieldworkers' ethical perspectives and practices of medical research. (2012)

Patricia Kingori is a British Kenyan sociologist who is a professor at the University of Oxford. Her research considers the experiences of frontline health workers around the world. She is particularly interested in misinformation and pseudoscience. In 2015, Kingori was included on the Powerlist.

Early life and education

Kingori was born in Kenya. As a child she moved to Saint Kitts in the Caribbean. She stayed in the Caribbean until she was a teenager, when she moved to London. Kingori was an undergraduate student at the Royal Holloway, University of London, where she studied sociology. After graduating she worked as a research assistant in the University of London. Kingori focussed her doctoral research on the ethical challenges experienced by frontline workers. After initially struggling to secure funding, Kingori was awarded a Wellcome Doctoral Studentship and began her PhD at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She was supervised by Catherine Dodds and Judith Green. After completing her doctoral research, Kingori moved to the multidisciplinary bioethics Ethox Centre at the University of Oxford where she continued studying the lives of frontline workers, comparing their experiences in The Gambia, Cambodia and Uganda. In December 2021, Kingori became the youngest black Oxbridge professor and the youngest woman to ever be awarded a full professorship at the University of Oxford. She is Professor of Global Health Ethics at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, Wellcome Senior Investigator, and Senior Research Fellow at Somerville College.

Research and career

Kingori was appointed to the faculty at the Ethox Centre shortly after completing her first postdoctoral position. Her research considers the sociology of science and medicine. She is particularly interested in the experiences and values of frontline staff, for example, those conducting clinical trials and treatment in Africa. Kingori has studied the origins and spread of pseudoscience and misinformation in global health. She presented her work on "fakes and facts" in a pandemic at the Science Gallery.

In 2021, Kingori became the youngest woman to be made a Full Professor at the University of Oxford.

Academic service

Kingori serves on the board of the Global Health Bioethics Network, the management team of the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, and the Development Board of the Black Cultural Archives. At Oxford, Kingori is part of the Central University Research Ethics Committee. Kingori has appeared on Julia Gillard's podcast A Podcast of One's Own. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours, SAGE SPI-B, which is overseen by Ann John and Brooke Rogers, and provides information on how to help people adhere to interventions during global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic. She is a member of the COVID-19 Clinical Research Coalition.

Selected publications

• Patricia Kingori (25 October 2013). "Experiencing everyday ethics in context: frontline data collectors perspectives and practices of bioethics". Social Science & Medicine. 98: 361–370. doi:10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2013.10.013. ISSN 0277-9536. PMC 3898703. PMID 24210881. Wikidata Q35037745.
• Patricia Kingori; René Gerrets (16 August 2016). "Morals, morale and motivations in data fabrication: Medical research fieldworkers views and practices in two Sub-Saharan African contexts". Social Science & Medicine. 166: 150–159. doi:10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2016.08.019. ISSN 0277-9536. PMC 5034849. PMID 27566044. Wikidata Q31123995.
• Patricia Kingori (25 October 2013). "Experiencing everyday ethics in context: frontline data collectors perspectives and practices of bioethics". Social Science & Medicine. 98: 361–370. doi:10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2013.10.013. ISSN 0277-9536. PMC 3898703. PMID 24210881. Wikidata Q35037745.

Documentary

Kingori is executive producer as well as a central figure of The Shadow Scholars, a 2024 documentary about the thriving "essay mill" industry in Kenya where educated Kenyans are producing academic papers for mostly Western students. The documentary follows Kingori to Nairobi and provides behind-the-scenes on the lives of some of these writers. The documentary is directed by Eloïse King with British film director Steve McQueen as an executive producer. It had its international premiere at International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) in November 2024.

Personal life

Kingori's sister, Vanessa Kingori, is publishing director of British Vogue.